Club hopeful of play despite severe flooding to ground

Garstang Rugby Club are hopeful of seeing some action on Saturday despite their Hudson Park ground resembling a lake over the past week.

Heavy rain has caused the River Wyre to penetrate the flood barriers and leave the pitches under water.

However, club player and spokesman Simon Whittingham admitted seeing Hudson Park in such as state is not an uncommon occurence.

“It’s a bit of lake isn’t it,” Whittingham said. “The thing is we are a flood base and so every time there is flooding around the area, the river breaks through the flood barriers.

“It’s not uncommon to see the ground like that – it has happened before where it’s flooded during the week, but we’ve managed to play on the Saturday.

“Last week’s flood happened on Wednesday into Thursday and the ground did not have enough time to recover.”

Although the flooding is nothing new to Whittingham, he admitted it has become more of a regular occurence in recent years.

“I have been at the club for 20 years and it probably happened about five times in an 18-year period, but over the last two years, it’s probably happened about 10 times,” he said.

The reserves, who were due to play at Hudson Park last weekend, are hopeful this weekend’s home game against Preston Grasshoppers sixth goes ahead

The 1st XV had been due to play away at Ormskirk in a group game that was effectively a semi-final of the Lancashire Bowl. However, the game was postponed and will now take place on January 20th.

On Saturday, the 1st XV have a huge game as they travel to Didsbury to take on an Old Bedians side who currently sit in second place in the table. Garstang will be looking at this game as another opportunity to increase their lead, which is already 11 points, at the top of the table.